Description

A definitive global survey of the interaction of race, ethnicity, nationalism and politics, this handbook blends theoretically grounded, rigorous analysis with empirical illustrations, to provide a state-of-the art overview of the contemporary debates on one of the most pervasive international security challenges today.

The contributors to this volume offer a 360-degree perspective on ethnic conflict: from the theoretical foundations of nationalism and ethnicity, to the causes and consequences of ethnic conflict, and to the various strategies adopted in response to it. Without privileging any specific explanation of why ethnic conflict happens at a specific place and time or why attempts at preventing or settling it might fail or succeed, the Routledge Handbook of Ethnic Conflict enables readers to gain better insights into such defining moments in post-Cold War international history as the disintegrations of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and their respective consequences and the genocide in Rwanda, as well as the relative success of conflict settlement efforts in Northern Ireland, Macedonia, and Aceh.

By contributing to understanding the varied and multiple causes of ethnic conflicts and to learning from the successes and failures of its prevention and settlement, the Handbook makes a powerful case that ethnic conflicts are neither unavoidable nor unresolvable, but rather that they require careful analysis and thoughtful and measured responses.

Reviews

"The Routledge Handbook of Ethnic Conflict is a very welcome addition to Routledge’s excellent series of handbooks on complex, diverse and contemporary international security challenges. The editors, as well as 20 of the 25 chapter authors are UK/European based academics, which inevitably provides a different slant on the issues compared with those of academics from other cultural backgrounds. This should not detract from the Handbook’s value because it is well worth reading and including in any academic library on the field." - Vincent Williams, Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism

About the Originator

Karl Cordell is Professor of Politics at the University of Plymouth. He co-edits the journals Ethnopolitics and Civil Wars and has an extensive publication record in the fields of ethnopolitics, German politics and the politics of ethnicity in Central Europe.

Stefan Wolff is Professor of International Security at the University of Birmingham. Frequently advising governments and international organisations, he specialises in the management of international security challenges, especially in relation to conflict and post-conflict reconstruction. Among his publications are more than a dozen books and over twenty journal articles and book chapters. He is co-editor of the journals Ethnopolitics and Civil Wars.